Design and Simulation of 2x2 Array Antenna at 5.8 GHz for Gain Enhancement

A single microstrip antenna element with low gain typically cannot achieve satisfactory performance in practical wide-range applications. In this paper, the design and simulation of a microstrip antenna array aimed at enhancing gain are presented. The proposed design consists of a 2×2 rectangular microstrip patch antenna array. The antenna operates at 5.8 GHz and is constructed using a single rectangular patch antenna element as the fundamental building block. The designed 2×2 array is fed by a microstrip transmission line employing a quarterwave impedance matching technique. The antenna design was fabricated on a Rogers RT5880 substrate, which has a dielectric constant (εr) of 2.2 and a thickness of 1.575 mm. All antenna structures were simulated using Ansys HFSS software, and the simulation results were compared with experimental data in terms of gain, axial ratio, and return loss (S11). The simulated antennas resonated exactly at the desired frequency of 5.8 GHz, with reflection coefficients (S11) below -31 dB, indicating excellent antenna performance. The 2×2 array achieved a gain of 13.6 dB. The results show that the proposed design achieves significantly improved gain performance compared to a single-element patch antenna.